Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

writtenbymkm-583-902097 POSSIBLE SMALL SPOILER -- I have to say, parts of this movie sort of dragged for me. I watched it again a while later, and actually wound up fast-forwarding through a few of the scenes with David Duchovny. It wasn't him, especially, it was more the writing, the scenes he was in, it just seemed to slow down the movie. But I want to say -- and this is my reason for writing this review at all -- I've never been a huge fan of Sigourney Weaver. I thought she was okay, just okay, in "Ghost Busters." I sort of liked her in "Alien." But in this movie, to me she is brilliant. She makes the movie. When she's on screen the movie is wonderful. I don't know her (unfortunately), I've never met her (I'd be nervous), so she's a total stranger to me, but I could watch her scenes in this movie over and over and over again, she's that good! The movie itself is another of these "they totally fu--ked up my film" movies (see, "The Big Picture," e.g.). But, despite the fact that I guess you're supposed to hate her character for ruining poor David's TV pilot, she's marvelous. I read somewhere that originally the character ("Lenny") was supposed to have been a guy -- whoever decided to make it Sigourney Weaver is a genius. P.S. Since this is supposed to be a review -- a TV writer (David Duchovny) finally writes a pilot that has a chance, but the execs change his basic premise to make it entertaining, and he's very depressed, The End. Forget that. Laugh out loud at the satire. And applaud Sigourney Weaver's incredibly smart and wonderful (and probably totally accurate) TV exec of all TV execs. B-minus for the movie, A-plus-plus-plus for Signourney Weaver!!!

pine-music This is a behind-the-scenes primer on why America gets served a steady diet of mediocre television programming. David Duchovny and Kranz are great, but it's Sigourney Weaver's role and her superb performance that carries the show.Among the high points are the movie's take on focus groups and their outlandish role in network decision-making -- surpassed only by the inappropriateness of Sigourney Weaver's teen-aged daughter's decision-making power.Seth Green's cameo as host of Slut Wars is a perfect little gem that hits just the right, sleazy note.

bmalone135 I rather enjoyed most of the movie, although there didn't seem to be any character development at all. Maybe I missed it. the Suit from BBC seemed to have a good change, but that's all I saw.And I did not care for the ending at all. As I watched this, I expected Klein to achieve his goal of making the TV pilot he wanted to make, and his version was great. The new version was horrible. But my main beef with the ending is that it just ended. I felt no sense of closure at all, and that's what you need to have a good ending. It's like the writers just ran out of things to put down so they decided to just cut to black right there.I don't know. If there was a specific reason for that, or if it symbolizes something, please tell me what I missed.

S.R. Dipaling Producer and screenwriter Mike Klein(David Duchovny,whose dry,stoic demeanor actually serves him even BETTER for comedy than drama)has decided to pour part of his life story into a script and a project for a TV series. Through about four months and plenty of experience with executives,test groups,agents,directors,crew and actors,he will most certainly come to regret that.Over that period of time,Mike watches in various shades of horror,disbelief,disappointment and despair as the personal story of his brother's suicide and how it affect his life turn into a sterilized,sexied-up and contrived network "ratings-getter". All the while,he's soft-pedaled by his loyal but woefully superficial agent(Judy Greer,who gets plenty of chance to shine here),put off by an oblivious director(Willie GArson)and getting his project raped by a team of network air-suckers led by a guile-as-natural-as-breathing chief of programming(Sigourney Weaver). Director Jake KAsdan dials it down from previous effort--more from the unexpectedly poignant "Orange County" than the dry,strange and sharp "Zero Effect"--to make a film that is wryly documenting the degradation of dreams,ideas and creativity in favor of ratings and profit. The complaints of this show that I've been reading have been two things mostly: pacing and Ducovny's acting. On the first count,I'd say the pacing was intentionally set to show how the creative process can die a slow and painful death due to plenty of "committee". As for Ducovny,well,he is what he is. Take it or leave it. As said before,he seems to work better for comedy since he doesn't feel the need to EVER punch up the lines,and to me,comedy is much better when the actors involved AREN'T trying to hit the marks. The best performances here were probably by Greer,Justine BAteman(as NAtalie,Mike's very pregnant,very patient,no-nonsense wife),Ioan Gruffudd(spelling?)(as the British producer who senses that he's losing control of both his personal AND private lives),Lindsay Sloan(as a vain,in-sincere hot,young actress. I know,I know...is there any other kind?)and Fran Kranz(as the over/under-acting douche who's letting his modest success get to his head). I'd be lying if I said this film was of superior quality,of course. My main(or chief)complaint is that this film is done at such an economy of information and plot that one might think that writer/director KAsdan was under a time and money constraint to make this show go into the can. I won't spoil the ending,but it feels like it was almost MADE to create a level of Love-it-or-Hate-it debate among viewers. Overall,this film does what it sets out to do,which is namely to offer an acidic,subtle(perhaps a little TOO much so)and funny account of the "creation" process of television. It may go over some heads,and it certainly isn't a perfect concoction,but it worked for me. Of course,it didn't do any favors for MY ambitions of creating a TV show(or movie for that matter),but I suppose it should be more of a cautionary tale than preventive. I sure hope so,anyway.